Interesting

PICTURE.COM

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picture.jpg

I just received a letter from The International Library of Photography
[picture.com] today. I had submitted a photo a couple of months ago
after being told about this contest by Daniel (I owe you dinner buddy).
Well, what do you know, they told me they’re going to publish my photo
in their upcoming anthology “Forever in a Moment” and they’ve
automatically entered me into the semi-finalists of the People category
in the International Open Amateur Photography Contest.

Unfortunately, I still have to buy the book (well I don’t have to, my photo will be included into the book regardless of whether I buy it or not, but I’ll want
to), albeit at the “contributor’s special pre-publication price” which
is still US $69.95. Apparently the regular price is US $89.95. It’s one
of those coffee table books, thus the price. It’s still very pricey
though, I’ve personally never paid A$140 or RM 265.81 for a
non-academic book before. I guess there is a first time for everything.

Oh well, at least they said “your photograph was selected for
publication because of its unique perspective and your artistic vision”.

Yes, I am easy to please. =D

Pop Pop

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poppop.jpg

Anyone remember these things? I came across a box today and had fun
reliving my childhood. I remember playing with these when I was 5 or 6
years old, that was all I was allowed to have during Chinese New Year.
I think I only got to play with the big firecrackers and fireworks when
I reached Primary 4.

“Carry On”

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Heh. My friend told me an anecdote about what happened to him last
night. The time was 2 am, and there he was, making out with his
girlfriend in her car at the abandoned old Sibu airport opposite the
Stadium. That is one of the three most popular make out spots in Sibu.
The other two are Bukit Aup and the Stadium carpark. Anyway, the thing
that happened was: In the middle of their make out session, his
girlfriend noticed someone or something outside the car. The scenario
at this point: He was kissing and hugging his girlfriend, with both the
front car seats down and he was on top of her. I don’t know why he felt
compelled to provide me with all these details, but oh well. Anyway,
his girlfriend stopped suddenly and said there was someone outside the
car and he/she has been there for quite a while. My friend and his
girlfriend then sat up and immediately, the guy outside shined a
flashlight into the car and motioned for them to roll down the windows.
The guy outside didn’t introduce himself and just asked my friend for
hic I.C. (Identity Card – everyone in Malaysia has one).

My friend asked the guy outside whether he was a policeman and asked
to see some ID coz he didn’t look like a policeman with a casual jacket
and no uniform. The guy outside replied with “tengok kereta itu” which
translates to “look at the car behind you”. Sure enough, there was a
authentic police car there, sirens and yellow stripes and big white
POLIS fonts stenciled to both sides. Anyway, my friend produced his
I.C. and the policeman squinted at it for a while and asked for his
girlfriend’s I.C. The policeman squinted at it for another second and
passed both the I.C.s back and said “Carry On”. Hahaha! I laughed
myself to tears when he told me that story. I would have thought that
it would violate some law to make out in a parked car at an abandoned
airport. Disturbing the peace or something, but apparently there is no
such law in Malaysia. It’s funny that the police car sneaked up upon
them without him realizing. Apparently, policemen frequent these spots
coz he said he saw the same police car pulling in again as they left
soon afterwards. Oh man. The funniest thing was what he said the
policeman had said – “Carry On” (in English no less!). Heh. I’m still
laughing as I type this…it soooo funny for some reason. Carry on
indeed. LOL.

Behold! I draw

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sketch.jpg

I just came back from watching a 10:45 pm movie at Star Cineplex.
Before that I had pork liver noodles. Mmm… I neglected to bring along
my digicam so here’s a sketch I drew in Microsoft Paint depicting the
pork liver noodle scene. Items in the sketch are: table, chopsticks,
bowl of pork liver soup, plate of noodles, me, and a drink (kopi peng)
with straw. Please say that the sketch is nice or I’ll be sad and cry.
😉

Thoughts about the Monash shooting and a Crown Casino terrorist attack warning (hoax?)

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Ceremony of Reflection and Respect for the Monash
shooting victims [monash.edu.au]

Venue: Robert Blackwood Concert Hall (Building 2 on the Clayton campus)

Time: 11am on Friday 25 October, 2002.

Hmm…the gunman is being charged in court and the 5 wounded are well on their way to recovery
so I guess it’s back to life as usual. It’s sad to think that two innocent students died though. I
actually saw the parents and sister (?) of one of the deceased today. They looked very sad, but I
didn’t know what I could say that would make them feel better so I just nodded at them. On the
other side of the coin, the gunman’s story seems unfortunate as well. He has an old mother to
support, and now that he’s in prison, what’s going to happen to her? And why didn’t he think of
that before he started shooting? The mind boggles. I heard stories that he’s under a lot of
pressure to do well in his presentation, and it’s quite a challenge considering he doesn’t know
English that well. I guess that can be pretty stressful, but hell, if every student started
shooting every time they’re stressed, I guess there won’t be any Monash students left, would there?
What he did was wrong, and yet, inexplicably sad.

You have received a message!
Pls forward:
For your safety dun go to crown these days
terrorist attack: a friend’s friend had found a wallet somewhere and he rang the owner and gave it
back to him, the owner of the wallet is from pakistan, then he thanked my friend’s friend and then
told them not to go to crown or any places which are these days as there will be something terrible
going to happen”

“Ths was written by a HK friend from eng. Just on the safe side dun go”

This is an ICQ message that’s been circling around lately. I got two of these from two totally
unrelated people (except they’re both Monash University students) within a 15 minute period. I
suspect it’s a hoax, but one can never be too careful these days. Just FYI.

Link: 7 deadly
weapons [heraldsun.news.com.au] (He even had a 9mm
Luger)

Link: Professor sings praises of
murdered uni duo [theage.com.au]

Link: Kung-fu instincts kick in as
shots fly [theage.com.au]

Link: Modest
hero’s instinct takes over [heraldsun.news.com.au]

…and the knee-jerk response:

Link: Howard to push for limited
ban on handguns [theage.com.au]

Link: National
push to restrict pistols [heraldsun.news.com.au]

It’s interesting to see that the gunman is said to be a member of the Melbourne Indoor Pistol Club [mipc.com.au]. I went there
earlier this year (read about it here [sixthseal.com] – 1/4
down the page) and it’s a pretty fun place where you can shoot with real handguns and live ammo.
They’re also an authorized Heckler and Kosh [hecklerkoch-usa.com] dealer. Check
it out if you’re interested.

More on the Monash University shooting

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Well, it seems that newspaper sales go through the roof every time something
happens because I could not get a copy of The Age or the Herald Sun after 1 pm. The newsagents
seems to have sold out of those papers by midday. Anyway, here are a couple of links regarding the
incident:

Link: Police name
Monash shooting victims [heraldsun.news.com.au]

Link: Shootings
suspect appears in court [heraldsun.news.com.au]

Link: Monash gun
rampage [heraldsun.news.com.au]

Link: Gunman was
a classmate [heraldsun.news.com.au]

Link: Distressed
students face exams [heraldsun.news.com.au]

Link: ‘A quiet,
normal guy’ [heraldsun.news.com.au]

Link: Students
ashen over new horror [heraldsun.news.com.au]

Link: Heroes
prevent uni massacre [heraldsun.news.com.au]

Link: Classes
resume at uni [heraldsun.news.com.au]

Link: Your
views on the Monash Uni shooting (2) [heraldsun.news.com.au]

Link: Your
views on the Monash Uni shooting (1) [heraldsun.news.com.au] (My view about 3/4 down the page)

Link: Kung fu fighter a modest
campus hero [theage.com.au]

Link: A sombre uni gets on with
life [theage.com.au]

Link: Reluctant hero returns to
work [theage.com.au]

Breaking news: Monash University Clayton Campus, Melbourne shooting

by

(Updated throughout the day)

Official Monash University statement
[monash.edu.au]

Monash shooting helpline: 03-9545 6961 or 03-9545 6579

Toll: 2 dead, 5 hospitalized (1 in critical condition).

Facts:

Image (c) Mario Borg/The Age

  • Gunman is Huan Yun Xiang, a fourth-year commerce honors student who has trouble with
    English.
  • He was supposed to give his final presentation in econometrics today.
  • He brought a revolver and a semi-automatic handgun instead.
  • He has been arrested and is in St Kilda police station.
  • Read this [theage.com.au]
    to understand his possible motives. It’s sad, really. But what he did was wrong.

This will be updated throughout the day. Please refresh for latest news.

Link: Man held over uni
killings [theage.com.au]

Link: Pressure builds in the Ming
Wing [theage.com.au]

Link: Talented loner who struggled
in class [theage.com.au]

Link: ‘They were screaming, there’s
a gunman on the loose’ [theage.com.au]

Link: Where it happened
[theage.com.au]

Update: Shooter Identity (Source: Halls Direct Connect server chat room) –
Unverified Verified

<Carve2> Okay, official info to follow, I have a friend who was in that class
<Carve2> On the shooting
<Carve2> Honours Econometrics class, student in class had a total of 6 handguns and opened
fire on his classmates
<killuminati> so it wasn’t an outsider?
<Carve2> Apparently stressed out over a presentation he had that day
<Carve2> no, it was a student
<killuminati> icic
<killuminati> thats a bit harsh…shooting up the class over a presentation
<Carve2> The other students basically overwhelmed him and held him till police arrived
<The_Great_S@t@n> is your friend doing OK?
<Carve2> Yeah, he’s fine, just a bit shook up, as you would be!
<The_Great_S@t@n> yeah….. one of my mates doing honours with the guys in the class, he
went and visited some of the injured people, says one guy got shot through both knees, he’ll be OK
eventually he says, and a girl who got shot through the cheek, he didn’t get too see her
though.
<The_Great_S@t@n> Did anyone go to the information session @ 6pm?
<Carve2> No, was tutoring
<The_Great_S@t@n> the policeman said there were 4 guns, and one of the deceased was an
international student, otherwise just calmed everyone down, said Monash was probably the best
Victorian Uni when it comes to security.

Link: Herald
Sun: Your views on the Monash Uni shooting [heraldsun.news.com.au]

Link: Calls for
handgun ban [heraldsun.news.com.au]

Link: Howard
‘not’ to blame: NUS [heraldsun.news.com.au]

Link: Monash
rampage visits more terror on Australians [heraldsun.news.com.au]

Link: Students
no longer invulnerable after Monash shooting [heraldsun.news.com.au]

Link: Fed govt
policies to blame for shootings: NUS [heraldsun.news.com.au]

Update: There will be a counselor available all day in the MRS Theatre for all Halls of
Residence residents who needs it.

Update: The cell phone lines are clogged for a couple of hours following the shooting due to
everyone calling at once, but it’s okay now.

There was an announcement over the halls PA system this morning, requesting that we do not go to
the university because there has been an incident. It seems that there has been a shooting at the
campus and the gunman is still at large. Well, being a curious sort, I headed down myself to see.
Everyone at the university is rather hard pressed for information, but from several reports I’ve
heard, it seems that there has been a shooting at the Robert Menzies building. 5 people
were shot (Update: 8 people were shot) (Update: 7
people were shot) Update: 10 people were shot – 2 people are confirmed dead, 5
people are in the hospital and 3 more are injured. The unidentified gunman apparently walked
into either a tutorial or a lecture (conflicting reports) and opened fire. There
was a guy beside me who was actually in the tute, but he didn’t see the gunman coz he was facing
the other way. Next thing he knew, everyone was running out and there was this girl with blood all
over her saying “Help me”. Hmm…there seems to be a lot of school shootings, but not that many uni
shootings. It’s a media circus at the Clayton campus right now. I counted 5 news helicopters and 2
fixed wing planes circling the campus. I still don’t know what happened to the gunman at this point
(Update: Gunman was overpowered by other students and has been arrested. He’s being held at the
Glen Waverley police station), but the campus is crawling with police and the Menzies building
has been cordoned off. The police have been talking to everyone around the area. I didn’t stay for
long coz I only got 3 hours of sleep last night but the media is camped out in front of the Law
faculty, awaiting a police statement. Check The Age [theage.com.au] and Herald Sun [heraldsun.news.com.au] for breaking
news. (Update: Seems to be gang related, the victims and the gunman are all
Asian) {Update: The shooting seems indiscriminate)

Students around the crime scene and a couple of early news people.

The media interviewing some students.

More news people behind the police tape. I was standing on the Law Faculty walkway when I took
this.

The media talking to a police spokesman.

The forensics department being escorted past the cordon.

A guy in the Menzies building. The news people started snapping pics of him when he poked his
head out, so I did too. Heh. Note: This is not a hostage situation, it’s a shooting. Another rumor
going around is that it’s a terrorist related bombing or shooting. It’s not.

A detective walking towards the crime scene.

The air ambulance that evacuated one of the guys who was shot in the stomach.

Crime scene investigators heading into the building.

Oh, and do you know why all those people at these type of incidents all look so grim-assed?
Accounting for different personality types, it’s pretty obvious that not everyone is going to be
looking sad or scared. The reason?

News photographer: “Okay, I’m going to take a photo of you people now. Please don’t smile and
look serious.”

There you go.

Update:

Link: Students
tackled uni gunman [heraldsun.news.com.au]

Link: Monash
helpline numbers revised [heraldsun.news.com.au]

Photo gallery: Monash Shooting
[theage.com.au]

Link: Shocked:
Premier Steve Bracks [heraldsun.news.com.au]

Link: Some
thought security announcements were a joke [heraldsun.news.com.au]

Link: Police rule
out terror as cause of Monash attack [heraldsun.news.com.au]

Link: Leaders
mourn more young lives lost [heraldsun.news.com.au]

Link: Counselling
services set up at Monash Uni [heraldsun.news.com.au]

Link: Uni
shootings suspect showed no emotion: witness [heraldsun.news.com.au]

Link: Police ask
students to reassure their families [heraldsun.news.com.au]

Link: Man kills
two, injures five at Monash Uni [heraldsun.news.com.au]

Link: Students
tell of confusion after university shootings [heraldsun.news.com.au]

Link: Where the shooting happened
[theage.com.au]

Link: Two dead, five injured in
Monash Uni shooting [theage.com.au]

Link: Two dead, eight injured in
Monash Uni shooting [theage.com.au]

Call your loved ones if you’re a student at Monash University to tell them you’re okay.
Otherwise:

From the article:

Police have released two phone numbers for family and friends of Monash University students to
call for information about the fatal shootings.

The numbers are (03) 9545 6961 and (03) 9545 6575.

Toy box

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I saw those toy boxes that I used to play with as a kid when I went grocery shopping today.
Decided to pick up three different kinds and do a review coz I haven’t bought any in about 10
years. The three kinds are Ding Dang, Tora and Jo Jo. My dad used to get a box of Ding Dang for me
every Friday when I was in kindergarten. It’s something of a ritual for us, he’ll pick me up from
kindy and we’ll get a Ding Dang from the vendor right outside my school. If I’m not mistaken, the
toys in those toy boxes changes every week and the new stock comes in on Friday. I graduated to
Tora when it debuted, it has better toys, and there was a huge ad campaign on TV too during the
5:30 pm cartoon intervals. I haven’t bought this Jo Jo toy box before, but I know it came out
shortly after I outgrew these things. Interestingly, all three of these toy boxes are made by
Kinos. Their budget toy box is Ding Dang at RM0.60. Their flagship toy box is Tora at RM1.20. Their
premium toy box is Jo Jo at RM2.20.

Ding Dang (RM0.60)

The smallest the three boxes, it contains a toy and a packet of chocolate balls. My girlfriend
shook the box when she saw it, which reminded me of the technique we used to find out if a vendor
is carrying the new stock or not. The advertisements during the week shows the new toy that is
coming out that week. Knowing approximately the size and weight of the new toy, we would shake the
boxes to deduce whether it contains the new toy or not. Anyway, it seems that the quality of toys
has deteriorated somewhat. This Ding Dang box comes with a detachable multicolored pen. There are
four mini pens of differing color and length, and it all fits together into one short pen, which I
reckon would be just right for kindergarten age hands. The packet of chocolate balls contains only
3 balls, which puzzled me, coz I remembered that it used to contain more in the old days. Oh well,
maybe my memory is failing me after all.

The Ding Dang toy in action.

Tora (RM1.20)

Tora also has a packet of toys and a packet of chocolate coated biscuit balls. The toy is of a
higher quality than Ding Dang’s. This box comes with a soft board and a round cardboard. The round
cardboard has stickers on it and several grooves on the sides. I think it can be flicked with a
coin, causing it to travel significant distances. I didn’t try that though, coz I didn’t think of
it until now. The main toy is the soft board. It has perforated shapes and you’re supposed to poke
them out of the soft board and combine the shapes into a kangaroo. It comes with a piece of paper
illustrating how the finished model should look like, but no instructions. The head of the kangaroo
has button eyes that actually move when you shake it. There are two spongy lumbars at the bottom of
the board to attach the legs and the arms to the kangaroo’s body. Interesting toy, but not as good
as the old boxes which contains toys of a more kinetic nature.

The Tora toy before assembly.

The finished Tora kangaroo toy.

Jo Jo (RM2.20)

I was kinda disappointed by the contents of this box. As usual with toy boxes, it has a toy and
a confection. Being their premium toy box, I was expecting a more complicated toy, instead of just
two pens. The first pen is a fat one which has five revolving compartments in it’s main body. One
side of the pen has one less slider, making it possible to move the remaining sliders around to
give rotational capabilities to the compartment in question. It’s sorta like a Rubik’s cube, I
think it’s supposed to be a puzzle as well when the colors are jumbled. I cannot vouch for the
writing capabilities of the pen because I did not try it. My girlfriend tried to write on my face
though, but there wasn’t any marks on it when I looked. Either she didn’t really press down or the
pen does not write well on skin. The other pen is a multicolored one with lots of inner nubs. You
can switch the nubs by taking out the frontward one and pushing it into the opening at the back of
the pen. This forces the other nubs to propel forward until the second nub is the first. The build
quality of the pen is dismal, for the cap promptly cracked when I capped it on the top of the pen.
The confectionary is different from the other two boxes though. Instead of chocolate covered
biscuit balls, this one has four jelly cups.

Jo Jo pens akimbo.

For some reason, doing this review has made me somewhat sad. Nostalgia?

Very farnee

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Two men are driving through Alabama when they get pulled over by a highway
patrolman. The cop walks up and taps on the window with his nightstick.
The driver rolls down the window and ‘Whack!’ the cop smacks him in the
head with the stick.

The driver asks, “What the hell was that for?”

The cop answers, “You’re in Alabama, son. When we pull you over, you
better have your license ready when we get to your car.”

The driver says, “I’m sorry, Officer, I’m not from around here.” The cop
runs a check on the guy’s license, and he’s clean. He gives the guy his
license back, walks around to the passenger side, and taps on the window.
The passenger rolls down the window and, ‘Whack!’ the cop smacks him on
the head with the nightstick.

The passenger asks, “What’d you do that for?”

The cop says, “Just making your wish come true.”

The passenger asks, “Making what wish come true?”

The cop says, “Two miles down the road you’re gonna say to your buddy, ‘I
wish that asshole would’ve tried that shit with me!'”

Search strings

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I was looking at my webstats and noticed that someone came in from
an “angelic layer episode downloads” search on Yahoo! I used that
search string and noticed that I was the 8th site in the results. Hah!
Too bad you didn’t find what you wanted, mate.

yahoo.jpg

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